


Falling for you

by Narry_dreamer



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Broken Bones, Hospital, M/M, Pining, University AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-05
Updated: 2016-12-11
Packaged: 2018-09-06 17:58:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8763253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Narry_dreamer/pseuds/Narry_dreamer
Summary: Niall can’t believe Louis just threw him under the bus like that- well not under the bus, but in front of his crush, which might be even worse.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Since I haven't had much time to work on Painful Clefts, I decided to share this with you. It's been sitting on my computer for a while now, and this one's actually almost finished. Hope you like it! Reviews are greatly appreciated, as always :)

“No, Louis! I’m not going to do it,” Niall hisses, trying to get his arm out of Louis’ surprisingly strong grip. “That is the most ridiculous idea you’ve ever had, and considering how many stupid ideas you’ve had in the time that I’ve known you, that’s quite impressive!”

He’s finally able to free himself from Louis hold, rubbing his arm where Louis had gripped it. He’s been patiently listening to yet another one of Louis’ ludicrous theories about how to start a conversation with Harry, and every idea so far has been even more ridiculous than the previous one.

Honestly, he prefers just pining, maybe gushing about him once in a while- okay, every day, but who wouldn’t think Harry was attractive? He has bright emerald colored eyes, these cute dimples, glorious cheekbones that he could cut glass with, and more importantly, he’s probably the kindest, most caring person Niall has ever met. He’s always smiling, and even though he doesn’t usually say much, when he does say something, it’s always positive and encouraging.

But still, he isn’t planning on acting on his feelings, especially not by literally falling for Harry, like Louis has just suggested.

“Okay, fine,” Louis says after studying Niall for a while, and Niall heaves a sigh of relief. He whacks him in the arm for good measure, before glancing over at where Harry is sat on the stairs that lead to the building his next lecture is in, his brow furrowed in concentration at something he’s reading. Harry’s always reading, when he isn’t singing that is. 

Niall really doesn’t get how Harry isn’t ever sick, or how he doesn’t catch a cold more often. Yeah, sometimes he’s on vocal rest, but considering the way he dresses and how much he talks and shouts when he finally opens his mouth, that’s not really a surprise. Today he’s wearing his signature sinfully tight jeans and a flimsy black shirt that’s only halfway buttoned up, even though it’s like 50 degrees.

Niall can barely suppress a shiver looking at him, and he’s wearing a thick jacket over his sweater. He doesn’t notice the mischievous look on Louis’ face, and if he had, he probably would have moved away in time to avoid what happens next. 

Just before they reach the steps, he’s not-so-gently pushed in Harry’s direction. He tries to stay upright, but it’s of no use, and he goes down with flailing arms. He tries to catch himself on an outstretched arm, but he realizes too late that this’ll put all of his weight onto his wrist.

He feels his wrist snap at the impact, and he swears he almost passes out from the blinding pain that radiates through his arm following the fall. He barely refrains himself from cussing and carefully sits up, carefully cradling his arm to his chest. His breathing is deep and jagged, and he tries to calm himself down, looking around for Louis. 

Of course the wanker is nowhere to be seen after not only causing Niall to make a fool out of himself, but also probably breaking his arm in the process. Instead he’s met by a pair of worried green eyes, and he sees Harry crouched down in front of him. 

“Are you okay? Man, you went down pretty hard! Are you hurt anywhere? Is it your arm?” Niall blinks a little owlishly at him, and he can’t help but think that, although Harry might be the nicest and most caring person he knows, he isn’t very good in a crisis. He would have laughed loudly at that thought if he hadn’t been in so much pain, but since he is, he only snorts softly.

He can’t really understand why Louis had thought this would be a good plan, and he was pretty pissed at him for going through with it, especially when Niall had told him he didn’t want to do it, that it was a bad idea.

“Niall?! Hey!” Harry snaps his fingers in front of his face, effectively distracting him from his thoughts. Okay, maybe Harry wasn’t so bad in a crisis, he didn’t know, but holy shit does his arm hurt. 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he manages to say, although the shakiness of his voice and the fact that he says it through gritted teeth might tell Harry otherwise. 

“Let me see your arm,” Harry says, gently trying to pry Niall’s right hand away from where it’s cradling his left arm to his chest. Niall instinctively jerks his arm away, immediately regretting it as pain spikes through his entire arm, setting it on fire. 

He swears under his breath and Harry just looks at him, a soft look in his eyes. “I’ll be careful, I just need to see how bad it is. When I’m done I’ll make a sling out of my scarf, so you don’t have to keep holding it like that.”

Now Niall really isn’t so sure anymore about Harry not being good in crises, in fact he might be the calmest person Niall has ever met. Yeah, he might have rambled for a bit, but right now he’s very collected, and Niall probably would have reacted the same if someone suddenly fell down right in front of him.

He lets Harry gently take his arm, careful not to jostle it too much. Harry removes Niall’s watch and carefully turns his arm around, asking Niall to flex his fingers. When he’s done examining Niall’s wrist he tells Niall to hold it while he prepares the sling. Niall looks at him a little dazed, blinking a few times, trying to get rid of the floating spots in his vision.

When he looks at Harry again, he’s folded a scarf in half diagonally, making a triangle. He slips one end of the cloth under Niall’s arm over his shoulder. He carefully positions the injured arm at a 90 degree angle across his chest, before bringing the other end of the sling over his other shoulder. He ties the ends of the sling behind Niall’s neck. When he’s done, he looks at Niall, who’s about ready to pass out from the amount of pain he’s in.

“Are you okay?” When Niall just nods, he looks at him appraisingly, but Niall doesn’t budge. He’s not going to admit to Harry how painful his arm is, not in a million years.

“Come on, let’s get you up,” Harry says, getting to his feet and extending a hand to Niall. Niall looks around, just now noticing the crowd that’s formed around them. He’s pretty sure he sees Louis at the back of the crowd, and he might have gone after him if he wasn’t in so much pain. Right now his only goal is to get to the hospital though, and hopefully get knocked out by some strong painkillers.

He accepts Harry’s outstretched hand, because he’s pretty sure he isn’t going to be able to stand up on his own. When he’s standing Harry grabs their bags, before bending down to grab something from the floor. “Oh, here’s your glasses,” he says, handing them to Niall

Niall hadn’t missed them yet, mostly because his eyesight isn’t actually failing him. The glasses are just an accessory. He isn’t going to admit that to Harry, though, so he clumsily puts them on his nose. 

“Alright, let’s get you to the ED, have that arm checked out properly,” Harry says, guiding Niall through the crowd with his hand on the small of Niall’s back. He gets Niall to his car without further mishaps. 

Niall stares at the car, a fairly new Buick Enclave. Harry probably notices, and he smiles a bit sadly. “My dad got it for me, he just turned up one day and gave me the keys,” Harry says, as if to defend himself.

“I just think it’s a nice car, ‘s all,” Niall says, carefully getting in the car after Harry’s unlocked the doors. He lets Harry fasten his seatbelt and sinks into the passenger seat, rolling his head to get rid of the crick in his neck.

The drive to the ED is fairly silent, Harry’s silent humming the only sound breaking the silence. Niall would usually start a conversation, but he’s simply in too much pain to really focus on anything, let alone to make sure he doesn’t embarrass himself even more.

***

When they get to the ED Harry helps Niall out of the car, and after he’s grabbed both their bags he locks the car and leads Niall inside. A nurse hands them a few forms to fill out while they wait for the doctor, and Harry offers to write down Niall’s personal information, seeing as Niall’s incapable of doing so at the moment, with the way his dominant arm is currently in a sling, looking angry and swollen. 

Niall gratefully accepts an icepack from the nurse, and he downs the painkillers she hands him in one go. He tells Harry to go home, but Harry doesn’t budge. Secretly Niall’s glad Harry’s staying, although he’d never admit it, for fear of coming across as a wimp.

They sit down in the waiting room after that, and Niall finds himself staring at a man with a knife sticking out of his arm, before they’re called in by a short, lean woman dressed in scrubs. 

She introduces herself as Dr. Davis, and after asking what happened she examines his arm. Even though her examination is far less careful than Harry’s was, Niall manages not to cuss.

She sends him off to X-ray, and after another period of waiting she enters the room again, a cheerful smile on her face. “I’ve got good news and bad news,” she says, and Niall sighs. The good news doctors give is usually not that good. 

“Bad news is your wrist is indeed broken, like I expected. In fact, it’s broken in two places at the end of the radius,” she says, pointing at the X-ray she’s hung on the light box that’s mounted on the wall. “The good news is that, even though the fractures are misplaced, you won’t necessarily need surgery.”

Niall looks at Harry, who’s staring intently at his X-rays, liking there’s nothing more interesting in the world. “Since the bones are out of proper position, we’ll give you a muscle relaxant and use some light sedation. Then we’ll try to reset the fracture and splint your wrist, and after that you’re good to go home,” Dr. Davis continues. “If the closed reduction method doesn’t work we’re going to have to operate though. Any questions?”

“No, I- I guess not,” Niall says, a little blown away by her directness. He shifts his arm in his lap, not in the least looking forward to the process of setting his wrist. 

“Okay, the nurse will hook you up to an IV and administer the medication, and I’ll be back after the drugs have done their job,” she says, already walking out of the room. Niall looks at Harry, not really sure if he should tell him to go home.

On the one hand, he’s probably going to need a ride home, but on the other hand Harry’s already done more than Niall could have ever asked from him. “Thank you,” he settles on. “Seriously, thank you so much.”

“You don’t have to thank me, anybody would have done this,” Harry shrugs, moving to sit on the stool next to Niall’s bed.

“No, they wouldn’t, and you know that. You’re too kind for this world, and I really appreciate it,” Niall says, looking at the nurse that enters the room. She greets them kindly and immediately sets to work, chattering about anything and everything. Niall tunes her out after a while, leaving Harry to do the talking. He must come across as a bit of an asshole, but he’s just too woozy to try and have a normal conversation.

He feels the meds kick in after a while, and the next thing he knows, the doctor’s entering his field of view. “Okay Niall, we’re going to try and realign the bone now, just try to relax, okay?”

He nods, letting his eyes slip shut, trying to focus on anything but the stabbing pain in his arm. His hand is squeezed, and he opens his eyes to find Harry holding it. He smiles at him and squeezes back, before closing his eyes again. The doctor’s been pulling on his arm for what feels like forever, and when Niall opens his eyes he sees a determined look on her face.

After what’s probably a few more minutes she turns to Niall. “I’m sorry Niall, looks like this isn’t going to work. We attempted to realign the bones, but unfortunately, it looks like your muscle has become entrapped, which is blocking the resetting of the bone. This makes it impossible for us to reposition the bones without surgery. I recommend surgery where we’d insert metal pins inside the wrist to set the bones.”

Niall heaves a sigh, trying to hide his disappointment at the need for such an extensive surgery. Everything goes fairly quickly after that, and before he knows what’s happening he’s being transferred to an operating table.

He’s asked to count backwards from 10 to 1, but he’s pretty sure he only makes it to 8 before he passes out.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here's the second chapter, I hope you like it. I'd really like to know what you think!

When he wakes up, he’s still a bit woozy from the anesthetic. It’s very bright in the room he’s in, and he squints his eyes shut against the stabbing light for a moment. He doesn’t bother opening them when somebody’s talking to him, he just nods groggily when he’s asked if he knows where he is.

Of course he knows where he is, it’s not like you forget your best friend ignoring your refusal to do something to make sure you get into contact with your crush, breaking your wrist in the process. It might not have been Louis’ intention, but he’s still going to kick Louis’ ass for pushing him, that is if he sees the wanker again after the stunt he pulled. Maybe he’s too much of a coward to come see Niall.

When he finally does open his eyes, he’s disappointed to find that Harry is nowhere to be seen. He lets his head sink back into the pillow as his eyes close, drifting back to sleep in seconds.

 

"I told you it would work, didn’t I?!" Louis says, triumphantly pointing at where Harry’s scribbled his number on Niall’s cast, followed by ‘All the love, Harry’.

"Mmmph," is all Niall says. He swallows and runs his tongue over his teeth, trying to get some moisture back into his mouth. "Can I have some water?"

Louis immediately grabs a cup of water from Niall’s bedside table, adjusting the straw and holding the cup steady as Niall greedily drinks.

When his mouth finally doesn't feel like something died in it anymore he fumbles with the bed controls, trying to get in a comfortable position. He’s still a bit woozy, probably a combination of the pain meds and lack of food, but the pain is at a level he can handle, so he isn’t going to bitch about it. That doesn't mean he isn't going to bitch at all, though.

"I broke my arm! In fact, it was broken in multiple places, and the breaks were so bad that they required surgery! In what way did this plan of you work, exactly?"

"You have his number, don’t you? Oh, the doctor told me to remind you not to use your left arm," Louis says, although he does look a bit guilty.

The arm in question is currently propped up on a couple of pillows at his side, immobilized in a cast that’s up to his elbow. Niall carefully shifts it a little, glaring at Louis. "If I wouldn’t be so high right now, I’d kick your ass, you wanker."

"I’m sorry, Ni, I really am. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen, I swear," Louis says after a short period of silent. "I promise I’ll never do anything like this again, and I’ll help you as much as I can, okay?"

"Okay," Niall says, a little reluctantly. He knows he can never stay mad at Louis for long, because as stupid as his ideas might often be, he really does mean well. He just doesn’t always think before he acts, and Niall normally doesn’t really care about that, but well, breaking his arm has changed that a little.

"But you’re going to have to keep those promises, I’ll hold you to them, understood?"

"Of course, anything you want, Ni."

 

It seems like Louis has already forgotten his promise just a few hours later. Niall has been discharged that afternoon, and they’re having a drink in a bar close to their apartment building. The background noise from the bar drowns out whatever Louis is heatedly discussing with Liam, and it seems like they’ve both forgotten about Niall.

Niall leans back in his chair, absently flexing the fingers of his left hand, testing the amount of pain from his wrist. The pain hasn’t eased up since he'd been released. He’d hoped that a couple of ibuprofen would dull the ache, but that hasn’t worked.

He jumps when someone suddenly squeezes his shoulder. He looks up to see Harry standing next to him, carefully studying his face. He shifts in his chair, uncomfortable under Harry’s gaze. "How’s the arm?"

"Hurts a little. Nothing I can’t handle though," he says, looking at the uncooperative fingers of his left hand. Actually he isn’t so sure he can handle it, but he isn’t going to admit that to Harry. Outside of the pain that stabs up the arm every time he moves his fingers, they look swollen when he compares them to his right hand.

Harry nods and sits down next to him, but Louis looks at Niall a little alarmed. When he notices Niall swipe at the sweat that’s dampening his face he reaches for Niall’s arm. "What happened? Why didn't you say something?" he asks. Niall flinches back, but Louis doesn’t let go.

"Niall, your fingers are freezing. And that swelling isn’t normal. How long have they been like this? Never mind.” Louis begins helping him to his feet. “I know what you’re like. You’re never going to admit that something’s wrong. I’m taking you to the hospital."

Niall simply nods. He can’t even pretend he can ‘handle the pain’ anymore. One look at his hand and he knows that elevating the limb isn’t going to help, and neither is taking a couple ibuprofen. His fingers are like twice their normal size right now, and he can’t even move them properly anymore. He says goodbye to Harry and Liam who give him a concerned look, and then follows Louis to his car without protest, gritting his teeth against the pain.

Niall’s pretty sure Louis breaks a few speed limits getting him to the hospital, but he can’t really get himself to care. When they get to the hospital he lets himself sink into a chair in the waiting room, leaving Louis to handle the check-in process.

He is startled from his thoughts when Harry and Liam sit down next to him, shortly followed by Louis.

He isn’t sure he’ll be able to take this much longer, but it looks like he won’t have to. After the triage nurse takes one look at his swollen fingers, she immediately takes him and Louis to an exam cubicle, promising them the doctor will be with them shortly before leaving them alone. He sits down on the edge of the exam bed, carefully letting his arm hang down in the sling.

 

A few minutes later the same doctor that operated on him yesterday enters the cubicle. "I’d have preferred not to see you again till your follow-up appointment, young man," she says, picking up his arm.

"Did you take the meds I prescribed you?" She tssks when he shakes his head to indicate he didn’t. She then gently manipulates his fingers one by one, humming disapprovingly when he hisses in pain.

"I took some ibuprofen after I got out of here," he says when he notices the disapproving look she’s giving him. "Have you been keeping it elevated at all?" she asks, shoving her glasses up her nose.

"Yes, I have. I’ve been wearing the sling the whole time," he says, hoping that’ll satisfy her a little. She nods, and bends his fingers one last time. She sits down on a stool and looks at him with a serious look in her eyes.

"It looks like the cast was too tight, and I believe that it caused you to develop compartment syndrome. That means that the pressure within the muscles builds to dangerous levels," she explains.

"This pressure can decrease blood flow, which prevents nourishment and oxygen from reaching nerve and muscle cells. If we don’t treat it immediately, it can lead to permanent muscle damage."

Noticing the slightly panicked look Niall gives her, she adds, "I don’t think that’s going to be the case, though, looks like you came here early enough to prevent the worst."

"I want to run a couple more tests first though, just to be sure. Let’s get you out of that cast first," she says, getting up to get a cast saw out of a cupboard in the cubicle and plugging it in. She pulls up the stool to Niall and sits down again, moving Niall’s arm into position. "Okay. Just keep it like that."

 

A few minutes later the cast has been cut down the length in two places and she pulls the two halves away to reveal the swollen forearm. Dark bruises spread from underneath the bandage. She removes the bandage that’s and nods approvingly when she notices the wound doesn’t look infected.

"Jesus," Niall said, looking at his arm, suddenly feeling a bit queasy. "I think that actually looks worse than it did yesterday."

"That's right, but that's usually the case," the doctor says, studying Niall's arm intently.

Louis looks at him guiltily, trying to smile comfortingly at him. "What’s that for?" he asks, when he notices a device she's just grabbed.

"That," she says, gently swabbing Niall’s forearm with an alcohol pad, "is a device to measure the pressure in your muscles." She grabs a syringe and draws a transparent liquid from a small bottle. "Hold still," she says. "I’m going to numb the area first."

She slips the needle of the syringe into Niall’s bruised and swollen wrist, causing Louis to look a little green. Niall’s actually afraid he’s going to throw up right there, and he’s happy to see that doesn’t happen. Instead Louis looks away, picking up the two halves of the cast and staring at them absentmindedly.

After the doctor injects the contents of the syringe into Niall’s arm she attaches a thin tube to the pressure meter. She strips the sterile wrap off a needle, which she then screws to the end of the tube.

She turns Niall’s arm a little and inserts the pressure meter’s needle into the muscle midway between his wrist and elbow. She looks intently at the machine, humming at the results. "Okay, like I thought, the pressure is higher than I’d like to see, but it seems like we caught it early." She removes the needle from Niall’s arm and turns off the pressure meter.

"I’m afraid you’re going to need another surgery to fix it. Basically, compartments are groupings of muscles, nerves, and blood vessels in your arms and legs. These tissues are covered by a tough membrane called a fascia. The role of the fascia is to keep the tissues in place, and, because of that, the fascia does not stretch or expand easily," she says, staring at Niall over her glasses before pushing them up her nose again.

"What I’m going to do is make an incision and cut open the skin and fascia to release excessive pressure. This procedure is called a fasciotomy. Since we caught it early we can close the incision immediately, but you’re going to have to stay here for a while, I’m afraid."

"It's nothing to worry about, we just don’t want you developing an infection on top of all this, that’s all." She pulls off her gloves and tosses them in the waste bin. She gets up from the stool and pats his knee.

"For now I want you to keep the arm below the level of the heart. That's necessary to improve the blood flow to your arm. We’re going to set you up with an IV to provide you with fluids and pain medication."

She walks out of the cubicle and returns with a nurse. "Liz here’s going to insert the IV and give you the paperwork you need to sign for the operation. I’m going to go order an operating room. I’ll see you in there, okay?" she says, patting his knee again.

Louis and Niall are left dumbstruck after she leaves, looking at each other a little shocked.  
Niall clumsily signs the papers the nurse hands him with his right hand, and she helps him change into an operating gown before checking his vitals one last time.

Niall closes his eyes, pleased with the painkillers that are now slowly entering his bloodstream. The pain eases up, and he feels himself relax bit by bit.

He jumps a little when an orderly suddenly appears and unlocks the wheels on the bed he’s lying on. Louis follows as the orderly begins pushing the bed down the hallway. "I’ll talk to Harry and Liam, tell them what’s happened. I’ll see you when you get out of surgery, okay?"

Niall just nods, too tired to give an actual reply.

TBC

**Author's Note:**

> I'm Narry-dreamer on tumblr, come say hi!


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